This Podcast Will Kill You
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to.
Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.
Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita.
Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program.
This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.
Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.
Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita.
Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program.
This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.
Episodes
Mentioned books
9 snips
Oct 31, 2023 • 1h 38min
Ep 128 Skin Cancer: We love and fear the sun
Explore the complex relationship between humans and the sun, including historical attitudes towards sun exposure and the risks of excessive tanning. Learn about different types of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma, and the characteristics that may indicate a risk. Discover the progress made in understanding our relationship with the sun and the importance of recognizing that skin cancer can occur in people of all skin colors.
32 snips
Oct 17, 2023 • 1h 25min
Ep 127 Bhopal: The 1984 Union Carbide Disaster
In this episode, the podcast explores the tragic events of the Bhopal Union Carbide disaster in 1984 and discusses the devastating effects of the gas leak on the residents of Bhopal. It delves into the hazardous conditions and corporate negligence that led to the disaster, as well as the severe health implications for the victims, including damage to the eyes, respiratory system, and reproductive system. The podcast emphasizes the importance of remembering this disaster and provides recommendations for further learning.
9 snips
Oct 3, 2023 • 1h 42min
Ep 126 Migraine: A Cacophony in Four Movements
Exploring the biology and history of migraines, including personal experiences, symptoms, triggers, treatments, and impact on daily lives. The podcast delves into the phases of a migraine attack, the link between migraines and neurologic/psychiatric disorders, historical remedies, treatments throughout history, and ongoing research on migraine treatments. Listeners are thanked and expressed gratitude to, while promotions and sponsorships are mentioned in the end.
Sep 19, 2023 • 1h 18min
Ep 125 Blastomycosis: How fungus became amongus
Explore the rare and deadly fungal infection blastomycosis and its journey through mammalian lungs, skin, intestines, and brain. Learn about the role of pathogenic fungi in the transition from dinosaurs to mammals, and how our warm-bloodedness protects us from fungal infections. Discover the ecological and global distribution of blastomycosis, and the potential impact of climate change on its growth. This episode has it all - dinos, dogs, deep time, and deadly outbreaks!
5 snips
Sep 5, 2023 • 1h 26min
Ep 124 The full spectrum of color vision deficiency
Delving into the world of color vision deficiency, this podcast explores the origins of color vision, its non-universal nature, and its impact on industry. It discusses various types of color vision deficiencies and their genetic basis, the history of color vision deficiency, and advancements in understanding and accommodating individuals with color vision deficiency. The podcast also touches on the role of color vision in animals and the possibility of treating color vision deficiency with gene therapy.
Aug 22, 2023 • 1h 31min
Ep 123 Hand, Foot, and Mouth (and Butt?) Disease
This episode explores hand, foot, and mouth disease, including its various viruses, symptoms, outbreaks, and potential vaccines. The hosts share personal experiences and knowledge, discuss enteroviruses and echo viruses, treatment options, the origins and global spread of the disease, and the vast world of viruses. They also explore hypotheses about virus origins and express gratitude to listeners.
7 snips
Aug 8, 2023 • 1h 33min
Ep 122 Asthma: A phlegmy episode
This podcast explores the biology and history of asthma, including the different types and origins of the disease. It discusses personal experiences with asthma, the evolution of treatments through history, and the current state of asthma research. The hosts also address conflicts of interest in pharmaceutical studies and emphasize the importance of funding for public health and asthma research.
Aug 1, 2023 • 57min
Special Episode: Ed Yong & An Immense World
Our final TPWKY book club selection of the season will test the limits of your imagination by asking you to consider what it might be like to smell the world through the nose of a dog or to see flowers through the ultraviolet vision of a bee. It will make you ponder the tradeoffs inherent in sensory perception and what an animal’s dominant senses can tell us about what is most important to their species. It will have you contemplating what the future holds for sensory research, both in terms of what new senses we might discover as well as the impacts of sensory pollution on an ecosystem. In short, it will change the way you perceive the world. Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong joins us to chat about his incredible book, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us. Yong, whose other book I Contain Multitudes is another TPWKY favorite, leads us on an expedition beyond the boundaries of human senses as we chat about what an octopus tastes, how the line between communication and perception is blurred in electric fish, the evolutionary arms race between bats and moths, and even the long-standing question of why zebras have stripes. Tune in for the riveting and magical conclusion to this season’s miniseries. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 25, 2023 • 1h 21min
Ep 121 Tularemia: Hare today, gone tomorrow
The CDC’s list of highest priority bioterrorism agents is a short one, with only six pathogens making the cut. Among the more familiar names on the list, such as anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, and viral hemorrhagic fevers, is the topic of today’s episode: Francisella tularensis. Unless you’re a hunter or work with small mammals, you may not recognize the name of this pathogen or the disease it causes - tularemia - let alone the characteristics that earned it a place on the CDC’s list. By the end of this episode, though, all that will have changed. Join us as we explore why this pathogen’s brutal biology makes it a force to be reckoned with, how the history of its discovery has surprising origins in the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and what promises future research may hold for protection against this deadly disease. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 18, 2023 • 1h 6min
Special Episode: Deborah Blum & The Poison Squad
Oh, to taste the food of the past. Strawberry jam made from farm-fresh strawberries. Milk straight from the cow. Cookies baked with freshly churned butter and brown sugar. Because that’s how it was, right? Everything used to be fresher, more pure, unadulterated by preservatives or additives, right? Our latest TPWKY book club pick shows us just how wrong that notion is. Science journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Deborah Blum joins us this week to chat about her book, The Poison Squad, which tells the story of the fight for food safety regulation in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. In our conversation, Blum rips off those rose-tinted nostalgia glasses and reveals that strawberry jam rarely contained strawberries, milk could include a mix of formaldehyde and pond water, butter had borax, and brown sugar was mostly ground up insects. Until one man, chemist Harvey Wiley, stepped up and spearheaded the campaign for food safety legislation, all of these horrific practices of food adulteration were entirely legal. Tune in to learn what Wiley was up against and some of the tactics used in his struggle, including the wild story of the experiment that gave this book its title. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
